Baxter v The Bookies’ script is fast moving and very amusing, says Jeremy Welch.
★★★★
The spot light turns on and there sits Baxter looking exactly as you would expect from a small-time compulsive horse racing gambler, slightly down on his luck but, like all gamblers, believing the wheel of fortune is about to turn in his favour.
This is a great script and well acted by Andy Linden. The Genesis of the play comes from Roy Granville’s book of racing tales.
The play is episodic as we get a potted history of Baxter leaving school as a 15-year-old, his first love, betting on the horses.
The other episodes involve an introduction to his bookmaker, his racing tip line, an unlikely tipster in the shape of his back injured postman and his first lover. Baxter, as an old school tipster, believes in studying the form, eyeballing the horses at the race meeting, and listening to insider gossip from trainers and jockeys.
In the penultimate episode we are introduced to his nemesis, a nephew who has started a rival tip line using computer-generated statistical analysis to select winners. The old school meets the new word. The final bet is made, one last bet to decide which is the best method of selecting a winner.
It’s great stuff, the script is fast moving and very amusing.
Linden delivers the script so well it is almost as if you are having a fireside chat with your favourite but slightly wicked uncle.
The last scene of the play skilfully weaves the episodes together to complete a subtle and clever conclusion.
Baxter v Bookies runs until 25 August at Snug at Gilded Balloon Patter House.
Aideen McQueen: Waiting for Texto has many laugh out loud moments, says Jeremy Welch.
★★★★
Aideen McQueen introduces us into her chaotic on-line love life from her Dublin flat. It’s deliciously shambolic as she waits for a text reply form her maybe/wannabe recently cyber met possible boyfriend.
Throughout the performance she regales us with her tales of love woes and solicits the audience’s advice on how to extricate herself from her self-created dramas.
The predicaments she has found herself in include flirtatious advances with work colleagues, stranger romances, the perils of Tinder and the confusion of cyber dating.
Therein lies the source of her problems, the misunderstandings and misinterpretation of text messages. The agonising long wait for the reply to that flirtatious drunkard but easily misunderstood opening gambit text.
The script is very funny and the situations are familiar to all those on the search for the ‘right one’.
McQueen delivers the narrative in an honest and open style that makes the script come alive.
I really enjoyed the performance and there are many laugh out loud moments as the situations she finds herself in are well observed and comedically perfectly delivered.
It was disappointing to see the venue not full.
It deserved to be full as it’s a great and amusing way to spend an hour.
Aideen McQueen: Waiting for Texto runs until August 25 at Nip at Gilded Balloon Patter House.
This is not your Sangría soaked South of Spain late night Flamenco dance routine aimed at over indulged tourists, says Jeremy Welch.
★★★★
Flamencodanza is a sophisticated, professional and very skilful combination of guitar and Flamenco dancing that are symbiotically joined.
Paul Mannolas is the guitarist and opens the show with a mesmerising collection of musical pieces.
His fingers dance across the strings with a high level of dexterity and musical interpretation. It is an extraordinary sight to behold as his fingers move at seemingly impossible speed producing a sound of excitement and flair.
Mannolas is then joined on stage by Aylin Bayaz who proceeds to give a truly wonderful interpretation of Flamenco dancing at its highest standard. It is no wonder that this production has toured the world to high acclaim. Her dance routine is sultry, hot and explosively energetic whilst at times very intimate. It’s a hard combination to pull off and she does it to perfection.
Mannolas and Bayaz work together so well that it’s impossible to know if Bayaz is interpreting the music with her dance or Mannolas is interpreting the dance with his music.
The performance is masterclass in perfectly balanced Flamenco. If you’re new to Flamenco go and see it, if you are an aficionado of Flamenco go and see it. You won’t be disappointed.
Flamencodanza runs until 25 August at theatre at C ARTS | C venues | C alto.
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